Highlands - Cashiers, North Carolina

These suggestions are pretty spot on. These are all highlands suggestions. Usually don’t venture over to Cashiers.

I’ll add Highlands Smokehouse for BBQ.

I did not really care for Wild Thyme. I thought it was overpriced.

Blue Bike Cafe in highlands has great breakfast and lunch.

If you can get in at Madison’s in Old Edwards, do it. It’s one of best dining experiences I’ve had.

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Favorite team: Texas A&M

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There goes the neighborhood.

We had a great experience at Midpoint last fall. The highlight may have been the pastry chef Oksana Shchelgachova. She made stuff like this: LINK /

Alas, I noticed Midpoint is looking for a new pastry chef so Oksana seems to be gone. I haven't been able to find where she's landed.

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Breweries:
Whiteside in Cashiers
Satulah Mountain in Highlands
Innovation in Sylva
The area is light on breweries -

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It's weird how that little corner of the state has been rather slow on the uptake with the brewery craze. I guess it's more older country club types.

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MAROON

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My family and I frequent that area a lot so I appreciate this post. Definitely going to need to try some of the places we have not yet been to. So far, in and around Cashiers and the Highlands, here are my favorites:

Table 64 - My fav tapas and arguably favorite restaurant of all time. They just have such good variety in their food.
Cashiers Farmers Market - Really good blueberry pies as Maroon alluded to. I really like their peach pies too. Nice place to grab some snacks if you want a light dinner. Cheese spreads, fresh veggies, pastas, etc. They have a lot of good stuff.
Ristorante Paoletti - I've been 3 times. The first two were phenomenal experiences (both pre-Covid). We went most recently in May and the portion sizes were much smaller than in the past, with the same price mind you. Felt like we got ripped off. I still really like Paoletti regardless.
Slab Town Pizza - Probably the place we've been to the most. Love their pies, and they have a pretty good wine selection if memory serves. Nice place to take the kids or family for a nice, relaxing dinner, especially if you can sit outside in good weather.
Old Edwards Inn - Some of the best short ribs I've ever had. Highly recommend it. They also have pretty damn good bread.
Four65 Woodfire Bistro + Bar - Really good Neopolitan-style pizzas. Probably the best grilled cheese I've ever had was from Four65 as well. It's right across the street from the Old Edwards Inn.
Cashiers Valley Smokehouse - Great BBQ, especially their BBQ Chicken. Not a huge fan of the vinegar-based barbeque sauce tho (in general, not taking a jab at the restaurant).

I thought The Library was just okay. Food wasn't bad but it didn't blow us away either. It also had a pretty moldy smell inside and some pretty...interesting art.

Definitely going to need to try Canyon Kitchen and The Orchard. I've heard a lot of good things about them.

Also, on a side note, if you ever travel to Brevard or Asheville, I'd definitely recommend a few places:

Brevard:
The Falls Landing
Cardinal Drive In (really good milkshakes)
There used to be this really good burger joint but I cannot think of the name of it.

Asheville:
Zombra
Curate
Wicked Weed (have pretty decent bar food)

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Hate to say this but Table 64 closed down

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Really? We went back in May. So it must have been recent, huh?

Edit: Damn... Just saw their post of Facebook back in June. Glad we went one last time but that's really sad to hear.

Thanks for all the recommendations. We stayed at the Old Edwards Inn, which was absolutely incredible. Their restaurants at bars - Wine Garden, Madison's, and The Hummingbird were all on point.

Midpoint was a nice restaurant that we enjoyed. The Indian butter chicken was very good.

Wild Thyme was okay. The trout was pretty good, but the restaurant, overall, reminded me of a place my mother-in-law would appreciate. The maple brie appetizer was really popular given the season.

The Ugly Dog was a nice, warm bar that served "upscale" bar food. The bloody mary bar is legit.

Bridge at Mill Creek was a really good late lunch. The prime beef sandwich was phenomenal after a good hike.

Satulah Brewery was fine. Left more to be desired to be honest...

All in all...good, relaxing trip. The weather was great, good meals, a nice change of scenery. It's a really small town, and there aren't just tons and tons to do, but pretty much all options available are elevated and on point.